Editor’s note/ As Coronavirus Pandemic Turns into Tragedy Albanians Loose Nerve

The head of the National Emergency, Skënder Brataj said on Thursday that the the coronavirus situation has worsened. Brataj did not rule out the possibility of toughening the restriction measure. He said that the timing of curfew can be changed from 10.00 pm to 18.00 pm.
“The situation has worsened. The end-of-year holidays, moving from Tirana to other cities on vacations, have created more risks of the spread of the infection,”
he said.
About 1055 infected cases and 14 fatalities were announced on Thursday by health authorities figures which have kept uninterruptedly rising over the last days planning the country into the most infected place in the region.
“If cases increase we can intervene. These are the solutions, the prolongation of the curfew, the closure of public activities leaving open only the essential necessary ones,” said Brataj, who anyway was ambiguous on what he said.
In the meantime the question of inoculation is almost at a deadlock in Albania and what relevant authorities say is very confusing. It is obvious that this government has failed in securing the promised vaccines. So far about 2000 doses of vaccines have been obtained.
But against this alarming backdrop what is worse is that the government still hesitates to follow the advices of specialists calling for urgent consideration of procuring supplies of Chinese and Russian anti- Covid vaccines.
It is not clear if the statement of deputy health minister Eugena Tomini in a TV talk show on last Tuesday evening that Albania has not shut its doors to vaccines from China and Russia was made under pressure of the solid arguments of specialists urging a quick action to search alternatives for vaccines which are not coming from western companies like Pfizer.
Doesn’t the example of Serbia which have vaccinated over 7 percent of the population so far and gets vaccines from China and Russia in addition to those from Western companies ring any bell to Albanian PM Edi Rama who instead of dealing with the alarming health crisis spends energy of the country in the political fight ahead of general elections eyeing a third government mandate?
Analysts say his apparent failure to come out of this inoculation deadlock will lead him to electoral loss but some others doubt because Albanians have lost the nerve of using the vote as their democratic means to show how politicians should behave in running the country effectively, especially in emergency situation like the ongoing pandemic. It seems life means little in this Balkan country where politics plays havoc with people’s destinies. /argumentum.al